Joanna Yeates’s best friend ­yesterday dismissed speculation the murdered landscape architect had been having an affair.

Rebecca Scott, who spoke to Miss Yeates on the phone shortly before she was last seen alive on December 17, said she had been ‘besotted’ with her live-in boyfriend Greg Reardon.

She said the 25-year-old, whose body was found on Christmas morning, had been ‘very happy’ with her career and relationship with Mr Reardon, 27, which she described as ‘the real deal’.

'Desperate for justice': Rebecca Scott, left, on a night out with best friend Jo Yeates. Miss Scott has appealed for the public's help in finding Jo's killer. Her body was found on Christmas Day

Asked about suggestions of an affair,
she said: ‘I was not aware of anyone else on the scene. Jo was besotted
with Greg, and he was with her. She’d been with him for over two years
and they were perfect for each other.’

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

BRISTOL ZOO FOOTAGE EXAMINED

Bristol Zoo has given detectives its CCTV tapes from the night Jo vanished.

According to the Mirror, a police source said: 'Bristol Zoo is not on the direct route from her flat to where her body was found, but the footage may prove useful in establishing how the killer reached her flat in the first place.'

The body of Glenis Carruthers,20, who was strangled in 1974 was found outside Bristol Zoo.

Both she and Jo were blonde and found without shoes.

Cold-case officers investigating Glenis's murder will pass on any potential links to the team hunting Jo's killer.

She also said that it was not unusual
for Miss Yeates to go for a couple of days without returning phone
calls or text messages, as was the case over the weekend before Mr
Reardon reported her missing, as she was ‘useless with her phone’.

Miss Scott, a PhD student in marine
biology, chatted with Miss Yeates on the phone while the latter walked
home from a Bristol pub where she had been drinking with work colleagues
on the night she vanished.

They arranged to meet on Christmas Eve near their parents’ homes in Hampshire.

But when she woke three days later to
a phone message from the police, Miss Scott ‘panicked’ and
instinctively called Miss Yeates’s phone.

She said: ‘Greg answered. He
explained that she had gone missing. I knew something was wrong. We all
did. As soon as I found out her possessions were in her flat, I knew she
had not left the house of her own intention.

Happy times: Jo and Rebecca enjoying a summer's day by the Clifton Suspension bridge. Rebecca said it was one of Jo's favourite places

Best of friends: Rebecca Scott has nothing but good memories of her time with Jo, like this camping trip in Cornwall in 2002

Happy holidays: Best friends Joanna Yeates and Rebecca Scott used to go to Cornwall together

The crucial DNA evidence

A DNA sample from saliva thought to have been found on Joanna Yeates’s body could provide detectives with a step towards the breakthrough they need to find her killer.

Previously it was feared that the frozen state of her body, which had been dumped in a lane in bitterly cold weather, would severely hamper forensic experts’ attempts to obtain evidence.

But the DNA sample could significantly speed up the inquiry.

Yesterday an Avon and Somerset Police spokesman refused to confirm if the saliva had been found on Miss Yeates’s body.

‘It was a case of whether she was
still alive, being kept alive by someone, or dead. I think we all were
in denial about the situation.’

Miss Scott, who lives in Swansea but
met her friend attending Winchester College in Hampshire ten years ago,
went to Bristol to join the search.

She said: ‘I always hoped she was
still alive but deep down I couldn’t help but think she’d been abducted
and some harm had come to her.

‘As the days went by, as best we could, we tried to have a Christmas.

‘On Christmas Day we heard the news we had all been dreading. We had the TV on ... when it was reported a body had been found.

‘In a way I felt relief at the news. I
was gutted too, but I knew that she was now not a missing person and no
further harm could come to her.

Backing calls for city-wide DNA
testing to help police find the killer, Miss Scott paid an ­emotional
tribute to a woman who was ‘full of life and energy’, adding: ‘Every
memory I have of Jo is a good memory.

‘We spent our first nights out together, our first holidays together without our parents.’

Appealing for anyone with information
to come forward, Miss Scott said: ‘You may not have seen or heard
anything but think back, has a friend or family member been acting
strangely or suspiciously?

‘If so please call the police and think about how you’d never want your best friend found murdered on Christmas Day.’

Sports mad: Jo Yeates on sports day in 1996. New forensic evidence has been handed to police

POSSIBILITY OF HIGH-LEVEL REVIEW OF THE CASE

A high-level review of the Jo Yeates murder inquiry could be ordered within days.

So far, Avon and Somerset Police have arrested only one man, whom they later released on bail, leading to some questioning their progress in the high-profile case.

And if the situation continues for another 11 days, a ‘28-day review’ will be held by a senior investigating officer either from within the force - or from outside it.